The Big Questions nobody ask about electronic voting ...

[AFFIRM]

First: Is it easier to hack thousands of retired volunteer poll workers sitting their on election day counting punch cards or, thousands of computers linked to, perhaps, fifty servers?

Second: And this is the BIG QUESTION ..........

Today, we live in a world where so much personal data is stored, bought, sold and stolen about each one of us. Credit card companies are having their servers hacked, compromising the security of thousands of their members. The IRS is now subcontracting some of their workload out to private companies. Do we really want a computerized record out there somewhere of exactly how we voted?

Picture this scenario, a poor single mother in any city, USA goes down to her local welfare office for help. Somewhere in a back room a clerk feeds her data into the computer. That computer waits to get her information from the server. Minutes later, the server answers back with a red flag. This applicant does not receive benefits because she voted Democrat last year. The clerk doesn't see the reason for denial, only a coded message saying benefits denied.

Granted this may seem a little far-fetched. However, is it possible with electronic voting? ABSOLUTELY Is it possible with traditional paper ballots? NOT LIKELY

Consider another situation, this one a lot more likely. The same mom has an idea to start her own business. She goes down to the bank and applies for a loan through the Small Business Association. We all know an SBA loan takes time to get ... if you even ever hear back from them at all. Well, in this case the SBA got her paperwork. They tapped into the US Govt. database and found she had not voted favorable for the party in power. The poor woman never hears back from the SBA.

Unlike the first scenario, this one would be nearly impossible to prove. What is even worse is that police departments and eventually even insurance companies would get this data too. I assure you, the infrastructure is already in place for this to be possible.

As you can see, it is not only election integrity that is at stake when we switch to electronic voting, but nearly every facet of our personal lives as well. In light of these facts and possibilities, we must ask; Why in the world would we even dare switch our voting system? Our votes must remain counted and traceable but not collectible. For once they are collected, they can then be sold, bought and hacked, enabling our political desires to be used against us.

[garybeck]

1. not really.

for all the problems with electronic voting, at present there is no way to tie the votes to the voters. it is still a secret ballot.

the real problems with electronic voting are that the votes are counted in secret.

[valerief]

2. Ahem, miscounted in secret. n/t

[AFFIRM]

3. Presently this is true

My fear however, is how long will it stay that way? Also, knowing how this administration works, will we even know if it changes? I mean really. If these machines have a way of collecting data as to who voted for whom, do you really think we would be told that? By the way, these machines are computers are they not? What precisely insures that our data is not already being kept? Again, if it is kept, would we know it?

[garybeck]

5. if you look at the technology, there is nothing

that links a vote to a voter.

I agree, if it were possible, they'd do it. But there is no way to do it.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. "Thin end of the wedge" argument ... it USED TO sound paranoid. nt

[Boredtodeath]

7. Sorry, Gary, not true

The 'secret ballot' is the foundation of the modern democratic process. It signifies the difference between a rubberstamp dictatorship where political opponents can be punished for their views and a democratic election where everyone is free to vote for whom they please.

Not so in the state of Georgia. In the 2004 election, 367,777 Georgia voters-more than 10% of the state's electorate-unknowingly gave up the secrecy of their ballot, by taking advantage of the new early-voting process. This new procedure, which uses Direct Record Electronic (DRE) equipment-or, to put in plain English, touch screen machines does not require voters to justify their decision to to vote early. So anyone can cast a ballot in the five days preceding the election, no questions asked. Sounds fair, easy and convenient.

But there's a crucial difference between traditional absentee ballots, i.e., the paper kind, and the electronic absentee votes cast last year in Georgia. The paper ballot comes in an envelope, which is discarded prior to that ballot's getting counted, in order to protect the balloter's identity. With these electronic absentee votes, there is no such protection. In fact, the new ballot is directly traceable to the person who has cast it.

After the July 2004 presidential primary in Georgia, Fulton County Election Superintendent, John Sullivan admitted to the Board of Elections that "early votes are marked with a numbered identification in case they are later challenged". Ironically, while electronic voting equipment does not supply voters with paper receipts to confirm who they cast a ballot for, it does allow the Board of Elections to access and store that information.
http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/2005/06/secret-ballot-compromised-in-georgia.html

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. welcome to the place where we have been

asking and discussing just these questions for several years now.